I was watching NTV7 a few nights ago after the kidnapping of two Malaysians and their Indonesian skipper of the coast of Sabah and was very appalled by the reaction of the Armed Forces commander who was interviewed.

He kept on harping about waiting for the kidnapped group and their abductors to land on Basilan Island before our Army, Navy and Air Force could receive any sort of intelligence.

This problem is nothing new. If anyone had watched the interview, they would have realised how hard it is for us Sabahans to accept this outrage happening time and time again. Every time there is a kidnapping, we lose not only revenue but watch our tourism industry take a battering.

Sabah is so dependent on this industry (now that logging is all but dead), it is hard to accept the same old lame excuses that there is 'too much area to cover'.

This is not an new problem. This kidnapping, sea-hijacking problem and 'terrorism' issue has been going on since the 1980s. Filipino traders on Kumpits used to be raided by the same Abu Syaff terrorists who raided Sipadan not once, but twice.

They also recently attacked a resort in Kunak, Sabah, but fortunately missed a group of school children by mere hours.

When is this problem going to get resolved? What will it take for our government to take this matter seriously enough to warrant it as a national crisis and put an end to these bandits? They seem to penetrate our security net at will and this means there must either be a security lapse or they are just too smart for our military experts.

Laughing about the kidnapping of Malaysians on national television does little to help the families. That officer should take a good hard look at himself and resign if that is the sort of attitude we are going to expect from our military.

Maybe its about time a West Malaysian got kidnapped here in Sabah or perhaps someone from royalty. Or maybe a politician. Maybe then we will see some action. Or should we wait for the next raid before we really start to take this matter seriously?

This is an old problem with the same tactics and the same decision-makers making the same old mistakes over and over again.

Either replace these incompetents or allow the US Special Operations Forces to use bases in Sandakan, Lahad Datu and Semporna to do the dirty work and solve the problem once and for all.

There is a time for saving face and a time to admit failure.